Beware of Turkey Gangs!!!!!

In honor of Thanksgiving this week, I have a turkey tale to tell. (As my heading says, this really is about life in Bucks County, PA)

One early Sunday morning, this past summer, I decided to drive up to the Delaware River for a run. I began driving up the road and noticed there was some traffic congestion up ahead. An accident maybe? As I approached, it became clear what the problem was. There was a flock of wild turkeys crossing the road. Except they weren't crossing the road. They were hanging out in the middle of the street. Not moving. Just milling about. Blocking the road.

As I got closer, I saw a man from a pickup truck, that was coming towards me on the opposite side of the road, get out and start to 'convince' the turkeys to go back to whence they came. The turkeys were gobbling away but eventually got off the road. As the man turned away to get back into the pickup truck, it was as if the turkeys decided they weren't going to be pushed around by some guy in a pickup truck. So, they followed the man back into his pickup truck and proceeded to block the road again.

The man got out, once more, convinced the turkeys didn't 'fully' understand the situation they were causing and 'convinced' them to go further away from the road. But, this only made the turkeys more mad.

As the man headed back to his truck, not only had the turkeys stepped back into the road, but they began to surround the man's pickup. There were turkeys to the left of the pickup, to the right, and blocking the vehicle in front. The man rolled down in his window and began to yell at the turkeys. And, the ' head' turkey began to gobble back. So, there it was, a man in a pickup yelling out the window to a turkey and the turkey talking smack back at him.

By this time, I was catty-corner to the pickup and saw the whole scene unfold. I was laughing so hard and began to go past the truck. Until two turkeys stepped in front of my car, as if to say, 'Where do you think you're going, buster? We're not through with you yet'. I tried to turn my wheel right to pass them but, everytime I moved more right, they ran in front of my car.

About a minute later, they must have been tired of playing games with me and they let me through. Not so with the pickup. By this time, the traffic on the other side was about 10 cars deep with no one able to move because of the turkeys on the road. As I pulled away, thankful that the turkey gang allowed me to pass, I looked in the rearview mirror thinking, 'I hope this resolves quickly.' I was imagining, on my return trip, what could happen. The man in the pickup was tired of talking to these turkeys and just plow through. The turkeys, not happy about the death of some of their comrades. tip the pickup over and fighting ensues. Blood everywhere, bodies on the side, a crashed pickup, all due to some stupid machoism displayed by man and turkey. It didn't have to come to that.

I'm glad to report that the scenario didn't play out. There were no turkey roadkill where the incident happen. There wasn't a crashed pickup. Oh sure, maybe, they settled their differences elsewhere and by some other means. Or maybe cooler heads prevailed. Or maybe the turkeys just had enough of dissin' the driver and crossed the road. It could have been ugly.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

(Note: Congratulations to all the runners of the Philadelphia marathon yesterday. I am SO glad I didn't run it this year as the temperature at the start of the race was in the mid-20's F and I don't think it got much higher).

Update on this story: There was an article on boston.com on March 3, 2009 of turkeys harrassing commuters. Seems that the turkeys are muscling in the Northeast of the US. http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/03/testy_turkeys_o.html